WRITTEN  REPONSE OF THE ASSOCIATION OF CATHOLIC NURSES ENGLAND AND WALES TO THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF NURSING ON THEIR STATEMENT TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INQUIRY 2006/07 INTO THE ABORTION ACT 1967.

NOVEMBER 2007

To The Royal College of Nursing Ethics Committee

The Association of Catholic Nurses upholds traditional Catholic Church teaching of the sanctity of and the social duty and moral responsibility of all mankind to protect the dignity of   all human life particularly when it is  weakest and most vulnerable .  The most fundamental principles of medical and nursing practice  ,beneficence ,to do good and non-maleficence ,to do no harm are known to have  been inscribed into codes of professional practice since the time of the Hippocratic Oath around 420BC. The House of Commons Science and Technology recognizes that scientific developments within medicine can 'alter the balance of opinion on ethical and moral issues' (2007,p.3) but  has chosen to review only medical ,scientific and other current research in its inquiry into the Abortion Act 1967 forty years after its legalization in the UK. We do not believe such discussion can be divorced from moral and ethical debate.

As nurses we believe our knowledge , skills and expertise should be employed to protect life not to deliberately take life. Article 2 of the Human Rights Act 1998 states  'Everyone's right to life shall be protected by law'. Nurses working in child protection will be particularly aware that maternal health damaging practices during pregnancy  that may affect the life of an unborn child are treated as serious in the child protection arena and can result in registration of an unborn child to protect its rights after birth. Under the same legal system within the UK 193,700 terminations of pregnancies were carried out in the UK in 2006. 9.5% of these abortions were performed during the second trimester between 13 weeks   and 20 weeks and 1.5% of the terminations were performed after 20 weeks.  1% of  abortions were performed on grounds of foetal abnormality and 149 were performed where there was grave danger to the life of the mother if the pregnancy continued. In many European countries such as France, Germany Holland and Italy except in cases of severe foetal abnormality abortion is illegal after 13 weeks. Research in the UK indicates 68% of the UK population and 72% women feel the upper limit of 24 weeks gestation (up to full  term for a child with an abnormality) for abortion should be changed and support a legal reduction of the upper limit for abortion to 13 weeks in this country.

Most medical sources agree that dangers of abortion increase to the mother the longer the pregnancy has progressed beyond the first trimester and that there is increased risk of miscarriage or pre-term delivery in subsequent pregnancies. There is also increased possibility that the foetus will experience pain and distress during the surgical process of a second trimester termination. The pregnant uterus has moved higher into the abdominal cavity so that the foetus can have more room to grow as flutters begin to be   felt and heartbeats   heard.. Whilst some scientific theories argue that development of neural pathways sufficient for   foetal sentience   or sensitivity to pain does not exist until around 26 weeks the Medical Research Council written evidence (2007) states they have found  �found that there was little direct evidence of the gestational age at which fetuses might feel pain; this would be dependent, inter alia, on the development of the central nervous system. There was no definable stage of fetal life when one set of neurons connected to another. The nervous system matured over many pre- and post-natal months to produce complete pain awareness. The Group concluded that there was still a great need for research into many areas of fetal pain. Invasive procedures such as amniocentesis and more accurate details of foetal growth, development and expressions  through 3D and 4D ultra sound scans suggest a foetus can show signs of pain and distress long before 26 weeks. The expectation of trained nurses to handle surgical abortions matched by a continued lack of funding and reduction of essential resources for  ordinary everyday work practice situations that often affects nurses more than medical practitioners must create the possibility of unreasonable expectations and grave risk to professional nurse and the patient.

Although the Abortion Act (1967) clearly states 'no person shall be under any duty, whether by contract or by any statutory or other legal requirement, to participate in any treatment authorised by this Act to which he has a conscientious objection' and the Department of Health written evidence (2007) to the  Scientific and Technology Committee states 'Their conscientious objection should not be detrimental to their careers and appointments' the active promotion of abortion by medical and nursing professional organizations does in fact create a double effect of discrimination that affects non abortion beliefs and choices both  of patients and  professional nurses and doctors in work practice situations.

As an organization of Catholic Nurses   we are saddened and   concerned that the Royal College of Nursing ,which as an organization represents the legal interests of a large proportion of nurses in the UK, has chosen in its own written evidence (2007) to the Committee to seek to expand nurse involvement in the provision of existing abortion services and not to consider any support for a reduction of the upper time limit  which would seem to be more reflective of the wishes of the general population.